Requiem (2006)
Written by Bernd Lange
Directed by Hans-Christian Schmid
IFC First Take
2006
Rating:


"Requiem" and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose"" are based on the same account of a German exorcism in 1976, but while Scott Derrickson literalized Emily Rose's ordeal through a crass regurgitation of exorcism clichés, German director Hans-Christian Schmid's psychological horror film is in the tradition of Ingmar Bergman's "Through a Glass Darkly," Roman Polaski's "Repulsion" and Lars von Trier's "Breaking the Waves" as a realist horror film that doesn't provide easy answers.

Sandra Hüller delivers the performance of the year in her portrayal of Michaela. An epileptic and the daughter of conservative Christians, Michaela struggles to break free of her parents' restraining grasp just to attend college. Once there she's timid and shy, but like Stephen King's Carrie White, a little coaxing allows her to finally experience the liberating freedom of college life: she makes friends, listens to Deep Purple, dances, drinks, meets a boy and has sex for the first time. Her joy is shattered with the return of her seizures and something worse. During what may be a seizure, Michaela is physically unable to reach for her rosary beads. Another time she can't bring herself to touch a crucifix. This leads Michaela to believe she has been possessed. Her downward spiral into increasingly erratic behavior eventually convinces two priests that an exorcism is necessary.

Schmid and Hüller fully realize the compelling aspects that "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" decided to ignore so it could awkwardly turn "Inherit the Wind" into a horror movie. Schmid never visualizes Michaela's possession, allowing for a psychosomatic reading of Michaela's condition, making it a symptom of her guilt at having disappointed her parents and, more importantly, her God. Michaela's deeply felt Christianity and her terror at having possibly been abandoned by him are also real, driving her desperate need for an exorcism. In any reading Hüller's performance devastates.

"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is a spiritually bankrupt horror film for fans of "The Passion of the Christ"; "Requiem" is the real passion play, a deeply spiritual examination of tested faith.

Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/film/requiem.2006